Advice for feeding 2 year old

[Vikki1234]

Hi I am having an awful time trying to get my 2 year old to eat normal food! He is extremely fussy and when I try him with new food he's not interested! I am constantly thinking of what I can give him as a meal.

I feel every meal time is a nightmare at the minute and just don't know what to do. I am starting to worry that by not eating different foods he's not getting the nutrients he needs.

He'll eat his breakfast and have snacks through the day and be quite happy. Its only later in the day problems arise.

Is this normal? Any advice or meal ideas very welcome.

Thank you xxx

Cut the snacks. We have always all eaten the same meals, nothing special for kids. All sit together where possible. Offer a selection of foods and keep re offering. Don’t give dessert as an incentive. Have a cooked meal for lunch, likely less tired then so should be more receptive

It's so frustrating, read My Child Wont Eat to help reassure you it's normal. Practically, keep offering a range of foods. 3-4 options each mealtime with at least one you know he'll eat. Same with snacks, offer a couple of healthy choices one you know he'll enjoy but others he might surprise you and choose occasionally. Consistent mealtimes, 3 meals a day and 2 snacks unless clearly very hungry. Healthy puddings are fine so long as you've clarified he has finished his main, just don't use it as bribery. It's either an option or it's not regardless of what he eats. We offer a pudding with one meal a day. Most importantly, do not apply any pressure or show any stress about what he eats. Find your inner calm and go with the flow. If he wants to eat, he eats, if he doesn't, he doesn't. You're the queen of 'I couldn't care less'. It will get better with time. Our daughter is a nightmare too, but I am seeing some small progress slowly. And it's normal they only want beige at this age even if they were more diverse with choices when weaning.

Re nutrients, don't worry too much. Try and get a multi vit in him daily and hope that will cover it,. Blended veg pasta sauce and homemade soups are quite good to disguise veg but mostly as per pp stick with normal food you'd cook and offer, he will eat eventually. I add things like houmous, wrap, boiled egg, baked beans, sweet potato as one of the things on our daughters plate most meals as they are easy to serve/prep in advance and I know she will eat those. Even if they don't go with the rest of the meal!

Definitely cut the snacks out. How much milk is he having too and is it Cow's milk or Toddler milk?

Interested you both said cut snacks. This really hasn't worked for us in the past, she gets really hungry and wound up and is then less likely to eat. Agree obviously not too many and need to be healthy, but I thought it was fairly standard children these age need snacks due to tummy size, not being able to have enough intake to sustain the length of time between meals?

He's having cows milk. He has a morning and night bottle xx

What does he eat?

Is it a very short list e.g. that you could list every food he eats here?

If it's more than that, maybe detail a typical day e.g. what he ate yesterday.

He has cereal / toast for breakfast. Lunch he'll have something small. Dinner is the problem. He'll only want to eat the usual chips, nuggets, beans, waffles rubbish basically. I have tried him with pasta and home cooked meals but he won't entertain it! He loved mash potato then when I tried to give him it the other day he wouldn't eat it.

Am just so tired n fed up thinking of what to give him xx

Thank you so much will most definitely have a look at it. I do only give him a desert about an hour after his evening meal.

As he's being so fussy the trying him with new foods and him refusing is costing so much money and I am struggling already at the minute. He used to be so good at eating its only recently he's become fussy ! Xxx

I have a 3 yo who doesn't want to eat most of the time. She goes down to a few pieces of pasta a £2 coin size piece of chicken and a pile of peas. Breakfast is 1/3 of a Weetabix.

I personally wouldn't class chips and nuggets as a usual part of a 2 yos diet so I think I would definitely stop buying those foods until there's a wider range of foods and keep them for a treat on a Saturday for example. Show them that there isn't any in the freezer Whilst you are using up the contents you already have use them to bridge foods you would prefer them to eat. 2 chips and a spoon of mash or a chicken nugget and a piece of chicken. We have best success with getting my daughter to expand her diet when we take something we are confident she will eat and add it something that is more of a risk for her eating. Also we try to make her food look as close to ours as possible. This is a challenge as she has 20 food allergies!

I would cook as you mean to go on. Ie cook the meals you want your family to be eating long term, no processed crap like nuggets, chips etc is necessary. If he doesn't eat it, fine. Just make sure there is one option on the plate he will eat and leave it at that. Eventually he will realise that what is served is what's on offer, and he will get more comfortable with different tastes and textures. It's a stage they all go through but relying on junk food is not a good solution long term.

Many thanks for all your comments 🙂

Does anyone have any idea of meals I can cook him to try? I am running out of ideas xxx

Our DD goes crazy for udon Noddles we do a sesame and peanut sauce... which I was surprised by.

Or we just add a tiny bit of soy to udon and serve with meatballs and maybe some "easy" veg like carrot peas sweetcorn

We do variations on pasta and pesto or pasta tomato with cheese and ham I blend some peas with the pesto and add sweetcorn

I generally offer "bits" on the side of any meal... Apple melon pineapple mango, cheese or a bit of chicken or maybe a banana pancake from breakfast 🙈

Once completely finished with dinner, i sometimes offer fruit and a fromage frais for "dessert" (this is kept totally out of view while eating dinner)

I often offer adult stuff she prob won't eat just so she sees it. Eg if I am having jacket sweet potato with tuna sweetcorn for dinner I make it early and give her a small portion to try when she has her dinner.

Anything she doesn't want or eat I just say "no more? Okay that's fine" "are you hungry? Mummy will make something. Wait one minute..." and she gets a sandwich, picky bits or cereal for dinner.

I wouldn't worry about this honestly. It is a very typical toddler diet and a normal fussy phase. Fruit makes a good snack, you can also do cut up carrot sticks/cucumber/peppers with his lunch.

I would def try to offer some veg alongside even a beige dinner (we all have those days) whether it gets eaten or not at least you've offered it.

If he will eat "sauce" type meals like mild chicken curry + rice, or pasta with tomato sauce, spaghetti bolognese, you can hide some veg in these sauces - grated carrot cooks in and becomes invisible, tomatoes of course, courgette/mushroom can also be cut very small or just blend the sauce smooth after cooking these things in before adding the meat etc.

Don't ask him what he wants to eat, just present the meal as a done thing. You can alternate his favourites with things that are not so loved.

Do you eat all together? That can help. For example my 5yo is quite picky about sauce type things so we will sometimes have spaghetti bolognese and he literally just has a plate of spaghetti with cheese on top. However recently because he's seen DH and I eat the sauce and enjoy it, he has asked to try a bit, and now he has a lot of spaghetti with a tiny bit of sauce and some cheese, this will likely increase over time.

Also if it's always dinner time that is a problem, could you be eating too late so he's tired? I find an earlier dinner is helpful (it does make it harder to eat together) because they are more adventurous when they aren't tired, and then we do a little top up "supper" of something like fruit, yoghurt, bread, crackers, cheese, porridge etc (anything they already like) before bed.

There are loads of great instagram pages with plenty of good toddler meal ideas. Have a look on there for "toddler meals" and then subscribe to any you like the look of :)

At 2 there is more minim recommendation for milk. I'd cut out the first bottle and offer a cup of milk instead.

I would probably start with meat, potato and veg meals. Then maybe move from there to meat veg and pasta or rice. From there you can add sauce bringing in cottage pie or spag BOL or curry into the mix. You can make the sauce for you and offer the same with a little bit of sauce in a jug as "gravy". This is how we are introducing sauces to my daughters diet she drizzles some over her dinner with some of it staying plain but taste of something taste.

We are restricted with flavours and ingredients but homemade breaded chicken with panko bread crumbs are a hit and we do lots of dishes with pork mince and mustard

Thank you all so much. Tried him with pasta tonight and he just tips it off his spoon/fork he won't even try it! He now won't of had anything for tea so am thinking should I make him something else so he doesn't go hungry or is this adding to the problem!

I don't know how to get out of this as he simply won't eat most of the food I try to give him xx

I offer something low effort as a replacement food - plain pasta with frozen veg or toast/crackers/breadsticks or cereal that sort of thing.

My daughter will partially starve herself and can have 1 meal in 2 days but she will eat eventually.

Refusing food is one of the few things they have control over. Keep offering foods close to foods it's realistic that he will eat. It can be a battle of wills but you can't show that your fighting back keep as neutral as possible. Stay calm and go ok. Do you want a piece of toast instead?

We offer the main food then calmly go through a couple of the alternatives and ask if there is anything she wants and make sure she drinks all her oat milk in the evening

Did you serve anything with it that you know he'll eat? Don't just serve meals you know he won't currently have, that's a certain way for everyone to end up stressed! You need to be having 3-4 small options on a plate at least one of which you know he'll eat eg pasta, cheese, peas and some bread (if for example you know he'll eat bread and cheese but might taste the pasta and peas, although if he doesn't it doesn't matter).

You need to move away from just one thing on a plate, always have 3-4 things at least one of which he'll eat. These can be low effort eg boiled egg, cheese, bread, wrap, houmous, cream cheese, cucumber, tomato, baked beans, pasta, rice. Whatever you know he'll eat. It doesn't matter if they don't traditionally 'go' with the meal. So long as there is a carb, protein and some sort of veg on the plate it's fine.

Hi have you seen any improvements ? ☺️